| | | | Apart from term president Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, the Dutch minister responsible for EU relations Atzo Nikolai; Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn of Luxembourg, whose country will be the next EU term president, the EU commissioner responsible for expansion Olli Rehn and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul attended the meeting.
In the joint press conference after the meeting Bot said that some of the criteria set down for Turkey to commence accession negotiations had not as yet been met. The main item on the agenda of the meeting was the European Commission’s October 6 report on Turkey’s progress in meeting the accession criteria, human and minorities rights.
Rehn said that the EU was ready to start a scanning process with Ankara ahead of the negotiation process.
Gul said he hoped EU leaders would act objectivity at the December 17 summit. Gul also said that the recognition of the Greek Cypriot Administration would a long process and that it was not only up to Turkey to resolve it.
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